Unless you ignore social media, the internet, and sports (if so, who ARE you?), then you pretty much have heard about/seen the ending of Monday night’s Green Bay Packers-Seattle Seahawks game. A summary:

A Hail Mary pass by the Seahawks is intercepted in the end zone by a Packers player; one referee says touchdown; the other calls it an interception. After replay, the ruling is a touchdown, game over. Seahawks win. Continue reading →

Last week I wrote a post on the career ceiling social media specialists, and all specialists for that matter, will eventually hit. Got some interesting comments and insightful conversation, which I’d urge you to check out. The one theme that stood out above all others was that many people have started their careers as specialists and would like to move into the strategist arena. But they aren’t sure the best way to go about it. Continue reading →

What are some tips to create your own content through content you have curated?

Last week while on a business trip, I struck up a conversation with a gentleman seated next to me on the plane (who also happened to be a tech marketer) about content curation and how difficult it can be at times to keep up with the barrage of information flowing through the Web. We discussed all of the curation tools available, what we liked and didn’t like about them and successful ways to organize consistent, timely, and relevant information updates to our respective communities that kept them active and engaged. During the discussion I asked him what he thought was the key to successful curation that helps a marketer create their own meaningful, innovative content. After all, successful content curation requires the right mix of original content to help maximize SEO potential.

What happened with Travis Wright and the Kansas City Chiefs on Twitter earlier this week was nothing less than a classic example of a brand’s social media misstep. And, as these things do, the story quickly went viral. And while I abhor “lessons from” posts, as I watched this unfold and the conversation that ensued, there was just no way around the word, so deal with it. Continue reading →

In our last post on this topic we reviewed the new challenges agencies face in staffing to handle the much broader knowledge base they expect of employees. PR, marketing, and the other related arts previously had a comparatively limited set of tools that they’d actually use on a regular basis – media relations (print, broadcast, etc.), event marketing, etc. – with the occasional foray into something digital.

Now, in addition to the old tools, we’ve got all the digital arenas (platforms) to play in and on, each with their own set of rules and standards and much more specialized types of media – lifestyle bloggers (or as some like to call a large subset of this group – “mommy bloggers”), bloggers affiliated with mainstream outlets, bloggers who consider themselves journalists, bloggers who don’t want to be journalists but rather paid advocates and so on. Continue reading →

As we bask in early September sunshine it’s hard to imagine Christmas is just around the corner. But in the marketing world, it is looming. I am now starting to receive journalist requests for Christmas gift ideas and festive-themed features on a daily basis, so any brands that have not yet planned their strategies needs to act fast to get ahead of the curve. Continue reading →

Well New Orleans is finally surfacing after Hurricane Isaac made an appearance in our city. As a communicator it was hard to be without power. No power may mean no AC and everything in your fridge is spoiling but to a communicator no power means no TV and no internet. I was so desperate for information and to connect with the outside world that I went as low as to “watch” the radio. Continue reading →

Imagine this scenario for a moment, you have a Happy Customer who is directly responsible for more than $12,000 of your referral sales. Happy customer drank the Kool-Aid and was so enthused about your product or service that they convinced 10 friends to drink the Kool-Aid too. Happy customer referred your business time and again over a four year span. Continue reading →